TEARS MATENDO ZIKA
TEARS
MATENDO ZIKA
A single mother in the Kakuma Refugee Camp, draws of hardship
and hope. Two women’s faces, streaked with tears, emerge from the
emptiness of a barren desert, a place where survival is a daily
struggle. The first, positioned above, is Matendo herself. Her tears
flow from the pain of not being able to feed her children. Since the
withdrawal of USAID, a new food distribution system has divided
the camp’s residents into categories. Under her allocation, the food
is never enough. Below a second woman, depicted with only one
eye, stands for the disabled people of Kakuma, those who face the
challenges, but with added obstacles. Her tears are for the empty
plates, for the constant shortages, and for the absence of vital
hospital care in a place where even basic medical needs can mean
life or death. The bird is a sign of hope and wishful longing.